Fraud-Deterrent Print Technology on Display at Popular Music Festival

Summer is here, which means festival season is in full swing.
For festivalgoer’s this usually means long days soaking up fun in the sun. But for event organizers it can translate to big headaches.
Why? The perennial occurrence of counterfeit ticket scams.
According to the NIPRCC (National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center), a part of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, it’s a problem that shows no signs of slowing down “due to sophisticated printing technology and large profits on high face-value tickets.”

Adding security intelligence to documents

FluorescentMark: Content that is practically invisible under normal light, but revealed under UV or black light
However, there are preventative measures festival organizers can take to ensure only paid attendees get into the venue, while counterfeiters are left watching from the sidelines.
It’s called Specialty Imaging and it’s a technology on display this week at one of the nations most popular and respected music festivals. Tucked inside downtown Rochester, New York is the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival (XRIJF), attracting hundreds of thousands of music fans lining the streets to see marquee musicians perform.
With this fraud-deterring print technology, festival organizers are given the peace of mind to know that each ticket-holder is authentic.

Here’s how it works

Example of MicroText
At the XRIJF, festival passes and wristbands are safeguarded by being printed with counterfeit-resistant specialty imaging effects: FlourescentMark and MicroText.MicroText is text printed smaller than 1-point font size, or roughly one-one hundredth of an inch in height. Text appears as small dots when viewed by the naked eye and is only readable with a loupe or magnifying glass. (Click to see a video of MicroText)
Meanwhile, FluorescentMark is an effect making printed content virtually impossible to detect under normal light. However, when viewed under UV or black-light, the content becomes visible.Example of FluorescentMark applied to Jazz Fest wristbands
Both technologies protect sensitive documents from unauthorized duplication by embedding hidden information that can’t be replicated.
These text effects can only be printed with a Xerox FreeFlow digital front end combined with Xerox FreeFlow software – any other print server will print these security features as normal text. To learn if a color or monochrome device supports a particular effect, and if a downloaded font is required, simply visit www.xerox.com/specialtyimaging.

A problem beyond festivals.

Watch a Demo of Specialty Imaging in action
Each year, a growing number of counterfeit documents surface on the streets, appearing in businesses, concert halls, stadiums, and accounting departments…just to name a few.
From illegitimate concert tickets and coupons to fraudulent invoices and identification badges, these documents pose serious financial implications to businesses of all shapes and sizes across the world.
Helping your customers add more security to their documents is easy – and if you have Xerox FreeFlow Print Server and FreeFlow software – it’s something that can be accomplished with workflow tools you already have.

An array of additional effect to secure documents

Documents don’t protect themselves. And because each has such unique anti-counterfeiting requirements, there’s a host of other security effects enabled with Xerox Specialty Imaging:Correlation marks are printed text housed within a two-layer Correlation Mark that appears as a tinted box. When a “key” transparency is placed over the box and moved from side to side, the first layer of content is decoded. Flip the transparency over and the second layer of information is revealed. This provides an extra level of authentication for lottery tickets, invitations, and other documents requiring an authenticity check.
(Watch a video of Correlation Mark in action!)GlossMark Text: As printed page is tilted, glossy content is revealedGlossMark® text is printed text that is not visible when viewed straight on. When the printed page is tilted and viewed at different angles in the light, the glossy content is revealed. This protects against document fraud in environments such as amusement park tickets, coupons, and general admission passes.
(Experience GlossMark in this video)InfraRed text is only visible in the dark, with an infrared camera. To the naked eye, it simply appears as a text box with a dotted background. This feature protects sensitive documents like admission passes and promotions.
(Watch how InfraRed security features work in this brief video)

Sounds very impressive and I agree with Patrick, having worked at SolutionsPT for so long in the security game, I think it should catch on and I am surprised it hasn’t. I cant say that I have seen it in any events that I go to. Hopefully it takes off as I think it is a wonderful product.

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